MORE OLD AGE STUFF

Yesterday I played bridge again. I arrived early and there was a woman I hadn’t met already there. She was filling in for someone and hadn’t played bridge in quite a while. She needed to know some of our rules and was very worried because she was 90 years old and wasn’t too sure of herself. I told her that quite a few of our players were already 90 and she’d fit right in.

Just then Dottie came into the room and I introduced them saying she was also in her 90’s. Dottie told her she is 99. Another came in and said she was born in 1923. At this the new woman put her face in her hands, laughing and crying at the same time.

I think sometimes people keep to themselves too much only to find there are people just like them everywhere.

 

TROUBLE AGAIN IN THREES

Everybody knows that troubles come in threes

Yesterday for the third time in three weeks, a friend has died. Two of the deaths were unexpected and the third person had been very ill.

Then, we found an infestation of tiny bugs in our pantry. After checking out such things on the computer, we got lots of information. I threw out many things containing wheat and sugar. I had been keeping flour in the refrigerator, but that wasn’t enough. I found a package of angel hair pasta which had bugs all through it. I figured that the easiest way to get rid of them was down the disposal, but the pasta, which I had broken up, caused the disposal to clog up.  Once again I consulted the computer. My husband, after much plunging had to remove the trap to free up the drain and that took up about an hour, (including recriminations)

In the meantime, two men came to fix our sprinkler system and found that the control valve for the whole system was probably the cause of our problem. The valve was buried near the water hose outlet; we had never known where it was. It required a lot of digging before being found and replaced. Cost over $350.00. That was our three in one day.

We had hired a company to fertilize our yard and kill all the weeds which are everywhere. The dead spots we found aren’t from chinch bugs, but because our sprinkling system had failed.

On Monday our yard will be sprayed and a new Heat Pump will be installed because of a leak in our air conditioner/ heating unit.

However, the worst thing happening yesterday was the news that our son’s home had seriously unknown water damage inside the walls of his house. Much work will have to be done there. Is this number two or three of the issues found by the contractor when their new flooring was installed?

MADISON TAKES A MEETING

Our granddaughter Madison at age 15 is tall, slender with long wavy dark hair and beautiful. She’s extremely funny, brilliant and at times acerbic.

Recently at a family gathering she asked me, no, she DEMANDED to know what I had done with her bicycle. I told her I had no idea what she was talking about. And promptly forgot about it.

Last week after getting up in the middle of the night to use the facilities, as is my wont, I couldn’t get back to sleep. I was thinking about some touch-up painting that needed to be done in our bedroom. That led to me remembering the day Madison’s mother helped paint the room. She brought along Madison who was about seven and her sister Samantha about five. Our older daughter also came to help out. So there were four adults and two children here.

As the painters were working, Madison took a survey.

SURVEY: If you were to have a meeting, what time would you like it to be held, one, two or three o’clock? The consensus of the adults was three.

If you were to have a meeting, where would you like it to be held, the living room, family room or screened-in porch? The screened-in porch won.

If you were to have a meeting, what would you like as a beverage? The adults chose beer and the others chose soda.

So a meeting was arranged on our screened-in porch for three o’clock when the painters would be finished. Madison said she would handle the refreshments.

THE MEETING: An agenda was announced as we all sat on our porch chairs at the stated time.

First, we would stand to pledge allegiance to the flag. A short prayer from Pap Pap would follow. Next, someone was to recite a poem from memory and another was to tell a funny story. We each had to participate in some way.

Refreshments would then be served after the BICYCLE race on the outside patio. All five of us were to complete a circle on the bike. That bicycle was actually a TRICYCLE and a wheel was broken, so no one could ride it and it was later donated to Goodwill.

When Madison left the porch to retrieve the refreshments, we all burst out laughing at the wonderfully funny experience.

And the mystery of the missing bike has now been solved.

BIG THINGS

Bad things usually come in threes, things like when a man you hired to paint your house collects money, then disappears which means you have to go to Small Claims Court and pay fees to sue the individual who cheated you to get your money back. You are then given a day and time to appear before the judge. You pay a process server to present papers to the “crook”, dress nicely for the court appearance. What happens?

We followed all the written instructions. We arrived in court at the appointed time and gave our names to the bailiff who tells us we are not on the schedule. We have a copy of our paid receipt, so she sends for our papers from the Clerk of Courts office. The judge receives our file and asks if the defendant, who has not appeared, has been served. We reply that he has, the process server had called us the week before to say she was going to the courthouse that day and would turn the papers into the Clerk’s office. We don’t have a copy with us.

The judge says he cannot proceed until he has a copy from the process server. We go home for our copy, returned to the Clerk of Courts Office for some clarification. No one can find what we actually have receipts for. The office supervisor says it must have been misfiled, so she keeps our copy.

I called the process server who told me she had personally hand delivered the notarized papers to that very same office supervisor!

So what happens when you follow the rules for a court appearance? You are made to look like a fool before the judge. Also, do you think we’ll ever get our money back?